Shopping in the Time of Coronavirus

I remember my nan, who'd been through two world wars, telling me to stockpile flour, pasta, rice, and tins of various kinds of food during the Gulf War because she was afraid that the conflict would spread and she didn't want our family to be as hungry as she'd been as a child, and then as a mother.

Back then, I remember some people panicking, but - Flurching Inferno! - it never was as bad as what I saw this morning...

Why did I go shopping on a Sunday morning, you ask, dear Readers? "Is Dru afraid?" you wonder.

Well, no. But I am lazy, and since I was out to go vote in our mayoral elections (funny that the politicos didn't report that one... as if someone thinks that Parisians are going to stay away from polling stations! There was a massive queue at 9 AM!!!), I decided to go do my regular, normal shopping today as that would allow me to stay home (my college has been ordered to close) until round 2 of the elections next Sunday.

It turns out that I was far from being the only one at my usual supermarket and there was a tad of "panic" shopping (I was the only one with cat food, frozen cauliflower, and a bag of onions).

The rice and pasta aisle was 99.9% empty.

The toilet paper aisle was 75% empty (Covid-19 symptoms have nothing to do with the cholera, so I'm a tad at sea on this one).

The eggs were all gone, but the rest of the store was okay - except the prices.

I don't keep my old receipts, but I'm convinced that the prices are slightly up. I mean, I literally thought that the store owner would have ended up with a shaved head if we were in 1945...

Things are really strange.

People Bipeds are really strange.

I'll admit that, having seen my usual store this morning, I'm a lil' bit tempted to stockpile... for my cat.